The collage represents some of my musical influences since birth. This is just off the top of my head, so I know there are artists and songs that are stuck deep in my memory banks and I could not pull them out tonight. There may be others on this montage that have no business being on there, but for some reason I remembered them while putting this together.
The first song I remember liking wasn't something from Sesame Street or some other kid's show, it was "Lay down Sally", by Eric Clapton. I loved that song and I was probably only a couple of years old. Other early influences were Gordon Lightfoot, Don Williams and Jim Croce. All these artists were probably what my parents were listening to. My dad also loved the "oldies", beach music and maybe a little Motown, so I kind of grew up liking that too.
The first album I remember getting was Michael Jackson's "Thriller", I think I was 6 years old. I actually thought I could sing exactly like MJ at the time, but then again, I was 6. If you actually listen to the average 6 year old trying to sing like MJ, it probably sounds 12 times worse than the worst Kidz Bop song ever produced. None the less, I thought Michael Jackson was the greatest of all time and I couldn't get enough of "Thriller".
MTV was a big factor in my music life in the 80's and early 90's, back when the "M" actually stood for "Music". I used to remember thinking Madonna was hot, but she quickly got weird.
My next big music memory was the release of "Patience" by Guns n Roses. I would play that song non-stop, all day, all night. I loved the video. Tried to whistle, couldn't do it, but that is okay. It was a great song.
Early 90's was kind of a transition for me, went from hair band rock to rap. LL Cool J, 3rd Bass, Ice T, Fresh Prince. Being 13 or 14 years old, I was into songs with explicit lyrics, guess that is why Ice T is on here. His music was actually pretty horrible, but the continuous foul language and x-rated content made it pretty cool to listen to at that age. I don't remember too well, but I think Ice T had one track where he mentioned stabbing someone in their junk with a rusty screwdriver. You can imagine being 13 and hearing this for the first time, it is the funniest thing ever. I thank my cousin Brad for that experience.
High school in the early to mid 90's started with the rap, oh yeah, Boys to Men and Bell Biv Devoe, can't forget them, then moved to country. Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" was the turning point that turned me on to country. I pretty much listened to country exclusively during this period. My favorite artist was Dwight Yoakam. Loved all his stuff. "Heart that You Own" was probably my favorite at the time. George Strait's "Amarillo by Morning" has to rank up there too as one of my all time favorites.
By the end of high school, 1994, I was still hard core into country, but then Nirvana and Pearl Jam popped up on the radar. I liked Nirvana a little, but Pearl Jam was always my fav, still are to this day. They got me started on grunge and alternative that followed me through my college years.
College brought a broad mix of people into my life, though I still spent most of my time with my friends that I knew from high school. I still listened to country at the beginning of college, but alternative rock was taking over. Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Weezer, stand out to me. During this period, I was introduced to Jimi Hendrix and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which were both cool. Also, people were really into David Allan Coe. While others were into Notorious BIG and Tupac. I liked it all. Then came Dave Matthews and Hootie and the Blowfish. All I had ever known to this point was stuff that I had heard on the radio. I didn't really even realize there were good artists out there that weren't played on the radio.
Near the end of college, we started going out more and Jay-Z provided the theme music. It was a "Hard Knock Life" for us. What I listened to most during this period was Ben Harper and was getting more into Counting Crows. Actually went to my first concert ever. It was a Ben Harper concert somewhere in Raleigh, the Ritz I think. My brother drove in from home then drove back the same night, but it was cool. G-Love and Special Sauce were there. I was hooked on concerts from that moment, everything sounded great. I went to another Ben Harper concert a little later on and was introduced to Jack Johnson. Somewhere in between I attended a couple of Incubus concerts, really cool, those guys always had a unique sound. I've also been to some more mainstream concerts like The Black Eyed Peas and Jimmy Buffet, but it was hard for me to really get into those. I've seen John Mayer and Counting Crows, Dave Matthews and Phoenix. I've been to a couple of Ray Lamontagne shows that were really good. Saw David Gray, Amos Lee and John Prine. Those are about all I can recall, but I'm sure I've missed some.
Nowadays I rarely listen to regular old radio. I have satellite radio in my car, something my brother got me about 5 years ago. It was cool at first, found some stations I could get into, but now it seems it is rare that I can find anything I like, guess I don't like flipping around too much. I find myself leaving it on ESPN Radio, which is pretty bad. So many commercials and mostly the talk about the same things over and over, but I guess at least I feel like I'm caught up in the world of sports. I would leave it on The Spectrum station, but then they play Coldplay or Moby with Gwen Stefani or 10000 Maniacs and I can't take it. It is not worth it to listen to an hour of crap for the chance of hearing 5 minutes of something I actually like.
I guess my musical taste has changed quite a bit. From "Lay Down Sally" to Ryan Adam's "Ashes and Fire" with country and gangsta rap in between. Looking back, I have to question why I liked the stuff I did at the time. A lot of that stuff I could not bear to listen to today. I mean, Madonna's music was and is horrible. "Mama Said Knock You Out" is retarded, but that's what I liked back in the day. What an idiot!
Oh well, rock on as I probably head into the easy listening phase of life.
